Monday, July 04, 2005

Suspicions confirmed

Yesterday's Sun-Times article on a Jesse Jackson Jr. pretty much confirmed my suspicions: He is trying to position himself as the "pro-patronage" candidate for the 2007 mayoral race, accusing Daley of handing out the jobs to the wrong people:

In discussing Daley and his father, the late Richard J. Daley, Jackson said the elder Daley's political machine was built on organized labor and city workers and was more grass-roots oriented than the current machine. The current mayor employs a "pinstripe patronage system'' that relies on private contractors and rich donors, Jackson said.
He knocked the current mayor's attempts to privatize many city services....

We always knew Jackson was pro-patronage. He is, after all, pushing for a superfluous third Chicago airport. But now we see clearly that he wants to style himself after the elder Daley and rule a huge patronage army.
This is not good. Patronage=oppression.